


Defender of My Heart

by renjunsmp3



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Crushes, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gym, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secret Crush, Soccer, Sports, Student Council, Tension, Volleyball, argument, budget cuts, debate, fight, mediation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2020-05-31 16:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19430044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/renjunsmp3/pseuds/renjunsmp3
Summary: Two boys who have never met have to talk to a student council about why their sport shouldn't be taken away by budget cuts. They both get carried away, taking their anger out on one another. Will they be able to save their sports, AND their hearts?





	1. The Budget

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm back with another fic finally! I not only haven't had the time to write, but my mental state has been so horrible I havent been able to bring myself to write. But I got a little motivation, and of course had to jump on an idea before I lost the motivation I had :) I missed writing a lot, but I hope you guys can enjoy! I will add characters as they're introduced, there will be side ships and it won't be about just sports, and just johnyu. You'll have to subscribe and keep reading for that :) Im glad to be back. I hope you guys like it!! :)

Johnny’s last class of the day ends, and immediately once the teacher lets them go, his phone dings. It’s a text message from the student council president.

**Hello everyone, emergency meeting in the hall today, please come in 10 minutes. It’s okay if you cannot make it, but we strongly encourage your attendance. Thank you.**

Johnny reads the message and curses under his breath. Ten, who is sitting next to him packing up his books and supplies he used during class, looks over at Johnny with a concerned look.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I just… the student council is having an emergency meeting in 10 and I’m all the way across campus.” Johnny sighs, putting his books into his bag.

“Damn that sucks, do you know why?”

“Not yet,” Johnny says as Ten zips up his backpack almost simultaneously with Johnny, “but I’ll see when I get there.”

They walk out of class, and part ways, Johnny getting a head start by running to get to the meeting hall, and he surprisingly makes it 2 minutes early.

A guy runs up behind him, and goes to reach for the door at the same time as Johnny grabs it.

“Oh sorry,” the guy says, looking down at the ground and trying to catch his breath.

“You’re all good.” Johnny says, smiling and opening the door for the boy.

“Thank you.” He says, and quickly walks into the hall, Johnny following close behind.

The atmosphere in the meeting was tense. Nobody knew what was going on, and, the president wasn’t even there yet.

But once it got completely silent, the door opens, revealing the president. She walks around the side of the room to get to the front before speaking.

“Thank you all for making it. I'm sure you saw that this is an emergency meeting?” The entire room nods at this.

“Good. So what I called the meeting for is a big decision that the higher ups thought would be better handled by the council. It turns out, that the university cannot continue to support everything that it is funding.” 

“What does this mean?” A kid Johnny doesn’t recognize speaks up.

“It means one of our sports has to get cut.”

The room goes completely silent, until the boy who Johnny had just met outside the door spoke up as well.

“Which ones?” 

“According to the dean, it’s soccer or volleyball.” The president answered.

“What?!” Johnny and the boy say in sync, looking at the person making the announcement, and then at one another.

“Since you two are from either sport, I’ll let you both give us an argument, and we can have a debate and decide from there.”

They freeze for a second, and Johnny thinks.

_What is going on?_

But in the midst of his thoughts, he’s called up to make his argument. He was completely unprepared, so he was just asked a lot of questions about his experience of the sport, his team, the coach, every aspect. Before he knew it, it was over.

“Yuta, please come up and tell us about your sport.”

Johnny stands to the side of Yuta, watching him answer all of the questions.

Once they made their argument, they sit down. 

The rest of the council begins talking, choosing whose point was better, which one made the most sense, was the most heartfelt, etc. Meanwhile, Yuta and Johnny started to have their own argument, once they heard bad points about one another’s answers.

“The soccer team has more championship wins than volleyball does! We do more tournaments than you!”

“Okay and? We have more fans come to watch us and help us out! Plus our team loves playing our sport more than yours!”

“You did not just say-“ Yuta stands up and gets in Johnny’s face.

“All you soccer players do is try and show off in front of people.” Johnny says while standing up, towering over the smaller boy, and lifts his pointer finger to use it to push on Yuta's chest. “And you’re not any different.”

Yuta’s face contorts in anger, and he spins on his heel, grabs his bag and walks right out the door.

A few seconds after Yuta left the hall, the council looks over at Johnny.

“What is going on?” The president asked in a condescending tone.

Johnny was so angry he couldn’t even answer. He grabbed his bag, and stormed out the door of the hall just as the other boy had done only a few seconds prior.


	2. Practice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back with another chapter, as I got a lot of motivation for it! I hope you all enjoy it just as much as the last ! New character and some new things going on! Please leave kudos and comments of your theories about what is going to happen! I'm always interested in hearing what you guys have to say :) overall, I hope you guys love it!

Johnny gets out the door of the hall, and stops for a second to take a breather. He looks around and before he can even get his heart to slow down, he sees Yuta sitting on the bench near the entranceway, head in his hands. But he doesn’t even spare a glance, and walks away to go back to his dorm.

Yuta notices the glance Johnny had given him, and just puts his head back into his hands.

It’s a long walk around campus, but Johnny makes it back to the room he shares with his best friend, Taeyong.

He gets to his hall and opens his dorm room door, to see Taeyong laying on his bed, playing video games. 

Johnny throws his backpack onto the floor, and then falls face first onto his bed.

Taeyong slowly looks away from his game to look at his roommate. He takes his headset off, and turns his body to face Johnny.

“Hey, you doing alright?”

Johnny starts talking, but it’s incomprehensible due to the blankets smothering Johnny’s face.

“I can’t really hear you, can you sit up?” Taeyong asks.

Johnny pulls himself off of the bed, and lays down on top of it.

“I’m really stressed.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Taeyong gets up and puts his controller down, so he could sit at the foot of Johnny’s bed.

“We got called to an emergency student council meeting after class today, and I had to run across campus to get there in time. When we got there we were told that there are budget cuts and we have to cut either soccer or volleyball. They had me and this other boy advocate for our sports, since he plays soccer and I play volleyball. They asked us questions and whatever and after we were done, the council was discussing which sport will be cut. We could hear their criticisms about our statements and I heard the boy, I think his name was ummmmm, Yuta? And he scoffed at me when he heard the council saying that volleyball doesn’t win a lot of tournaments. I asked who he was scoffing at and from there we got into a fight, and it was really intense. He stormed out of the hall, and then the president made a condescending comment at me so I left too.”

“Oh … wow, that’s a lot. You said the boy’s name was Yuta? Like as in, Nakamoto Yuta?”

“I don’t know his last name, I hadn’t met him before today.”

“Oh. That’s okay.. I’m sure they’ll save volleyball. I know how much you love to play, I’m sorry it had to come to this. It was a shitty move on the dean’s part.”

“It’s alright, I just wasn’t wanting to have a conflict with anyone this year, and if saving volleyball is ruining that, then is it really worth it?”

Taeyong frowns. “Johnny you’re doing it out of your love for the sport, and your team. You love them so much and you don’t want to let them down. Keep fighting, you can do it.”

A small smile forms on Johnny’s face.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime you big teddy bear. Wanna play overwatch with me?”

“I can’t, I have practice in 30 minutes, but maybe later?”

“Sounds good!” Taeyong answered excitedly, and went back to his headset, and continued playing.

Johnny sat up and grabbed his sports bag, and made his way out to practice.

He walked the pathways on campus, looking at the people playing around on the grass, and on the benches, admiring the blossoming trees and flowers around him. Before he knew it, he made it to the locker rooms.

He walks in and sees Ten, Jaehyun, Jisung, Chenle, Lucas, Renjun, Kun, Sicheng, and Xiaojun getting changed into their practice clothes.

“Johnny!” The ear piercing scream came from no other than Ten.

Johnny immediately covers his ears in pain.

“Ow!” He screams, pretending to be wounded.

Ten just gives him a side glare look, and acts like he’s going to hit him. Johnny flinches dramatically and falls on the floor.

“You’re so dramatic!!!!” Ten yells angrily, and pouting at the same time.

“You love it.” Johnny says, winking.

“That was probably the greasiest wink I’ve ever seen.” Jisung says while walking by, shirt stuck halfway on his head.

Chenle goes up behind Jisung and pulls his shirt down, but not without tickling him. Jisung then runs away, Chenle chasing him and somehow getting Xiaojun to help.

Johnny stands up with the help of Ten, and walks over to his locker. He puts in his combination, and gets the lock open on the first try. He gets his clothes out of his bag and begins getting changed. The chaos around him was unreal, and at times very annoying, but he wouldn’t want it any other way. He loves his team.

Johnny finished changing, and putting his hair into a ponytail. He walks to the wall across from the lockers, and everyone begins to get quiet.

“So guys, I have to tell you all something. Can you all sit down?”

They all find a spot on the bench to be able to let Johnny speak.

“I had an emergency student council meeting about an hour or so ago, about budget cuts in our university. And sadly it’s come to my attention that it’s between cutting us, or the soccer team.”

The entire room went silent, and the atmosphere changed really quickly.

“I made my argument on why we should stay, and there’s a good chance we will. I hope this doesn’t bum you guys out too much for when we’re practicing, but I felt like you should all know.” Johnny looks down at the ground as if he was going to start crying. But it wouldn’t be the truth if I said Johnny was the only one crying.

Most of the boys were crying silently, looking at one another for reassurance.

Lucas stood up and opened his arms for a hug. 

Johnny walked over to Lucas’ arms and hugged him, eventually everyone stood up and followed.

“We got this guys. We’ll be okay.” Johnny reinforced.

A few minutes into the hug, they all pulled apart, wiping their faces and helping others as well.

“You guys ready to go out there and practice?” Lucas asked.

Everyone nodded their heads, and they all began walking out to go to the gym, when they saw another group of boys occupying it.

They walk in, confused.

Both groups of boys stood almost like they were at a stand off, staring at one another. 

But one thing Johnny noticed about the other group of boys was that Yuta was one of them. Johnny got to the front of the boys, standing there with his arms crossed.

“Sorry guys you’ll have to find another space to go, we have practice in here for the next 3 hours.”

“Well the football team took our field so we’re in here today.” He heard that familiar voice, and noticed it was Yuta.

Johnny began to approach the soccer team.

“This is our gym for the next 3 hours. You guys can come back afterwards.”

“Well we’re already here for practice and we aren’t leaving.” The tones between the boys became increasingly hostile, and both teams were noticing.

A voice spoke up that wasn’t Johnny nor Yuta.

“Okay guys break it up,” It was Kun. “We can share the gym. You guys get that half, we get this half. Everyone’s happy.”

There weren’t any protests, and everyone carried on as normal.

Though throughout those grueling three hours, Yuta and Johnny shared angry glances. They side eyed one another, scoring points and goals to show the other that they’re better.

By the end of practice both teams were annoyed by the boys’ unnecessary competitiveness.

Ten pulled Johnny over at the end of practice.

“What is up with you? Why are you and Yuta acting as if entire tree trunks are stuck up your ass?”

Johnny got a little upset at this, even though he knows Ten is right.

So he told Ten everything that happened at the meeting up until this point. 

“Johnny…”

“I know, it’s childish.”

“It is. You need to quit it and leave him alone. Try being nice.”

Ten walked away from Johnny, leaving him in the gym by himself.

He left Johnny to think to himself about everything that’s happened today. But one thing that stayed on his mind was how Ten knew Yuta. 

Does everyone know him?

Johnny started volleying to himself when he hears his phone go off across the gym. He puts the volleyball away and goes to pick up his phone.

**We have come to a conclusion about which sport will be cut.**

**We regret to inform you that the Soccer team will be cut due to funding.**

**The team needs to be dissolved in two weeks time.**

**The Dean thanks you all.**


	3. Losing Passion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooooooo!! I'm back! I'm surprised I got motivation to really finish this story! I have it all planned out, so this might be a bit of a ride. It's not going to be as long as my last fic but I hope it's good. This is a kind of short chapter but it's important! So I hope you all enjoy :) Please leave kudos and comments as well it keeps me going :)) Love you all!!

Johnny stared at his phone for what felt like hours. 

He did it.

He saved the team.

So why does he still feel sad?

Why does he feel… 

guilty?

He began walking back to the locker room, and was getting ready to take a shower and get changed.

He got into the shower, and cleaned himself from those 3 hours of practice. But when he turned off the water, he heard something, almost like someone was crying.

He wrapped his towel around his waist and walked out of the showers to look for the source of the crying. He couldn’t see a person anywhere, so he followed the noise. 

He walked around the corner into the other set of lockers, and saw a small figure with their head down in their hands.

He slowly approaches them, watching as their shoulders shake. 

Then he notices the long, red hair.

“Yuta?”

The crying stops. The boy wipes his eyes with his hands and stands up, turning around. But once he catches a glance of Johnny he freezes.

It takes a few seconds for Yuta to come back to reality. Johnny stayed there, looking at him, expecting a response. Suddenly, Yuta makes a break for the door.

“Yuta!” Johnny yells, attempting to follow him, but Yuta makes it out the door too fast for him to catch up in just a towel.

Johnny is left speechless, again.

After a minute of just staring at the door wondering what just happened, he walked back to his bag and got changed. All the while he was thinking about the entire situation.

He felt guilty. Especially for how he treated him.

But what could he do now? 

He was trying to help..

But maybe he had done enough damage.

He walked back to his dorm, hyperaware of his surroundings. Could he see the boy anywhere? Any glimpse of firetruck red hair?

But the entire walk home gave him no sight of the red head.

He got to his hall and walked to his room. He opened the door, and saw that Taeyong had fallen asleep at his desk. He put his bag down and walked over to the boy, putting his fingers through his hair.

“Hey bud, you fell asleep at your desk. You wanna get in bed?”

Taeyong groans, head still in his arms.

“Can you carry me to bedddddddd” He drags out.

Johnny sighs.

“You’re right next to your bed Taeyong.” Johnny laughs at the tired lazy boy.

“Pleeeeaasssseeeeeeee?” Johnny could hear the pout in his voice.

“Okay, fine. Put your arms around my neck okay? I’ll lift you from there.”

Taeyong wraps his arms around the taller and much stronger boy’s neck and feels his body lifted off the chair and laid onto his bed.

Johnny puts Taeyong on the bed, and pulls the covers out from under him, to put on top of him.

“Thank you,” Taeyong mumbles softly.

Johnny moves the hair out of Taeyong’s face.

“No problem, get some rest.”

And almost as if Johnny had commanded him to, he fell asleep instantly.

Johnny smiled at his room mate. Him and Taeyong had gotten really close since college, and he was really lucky he got such a good roommate. They got along very well, even having a good connection, allowing them to be friends. Even though they were two completely different people, interests and personality wise, they never failed at meeting best friend standards. Johnny loved Taeyong as if he was his own brother, and Taeyong felt the same way.

Johnny changed into his pajamas and got into bed, and started scrolling through his phone, when he got a text.

**10: are you and Yuta still having that feud?**

**Jhonny: I don’t know**

**10: did you guys figure out which team got cut?**

**Jhonny: uh yeah. It was the soccer team.**

**10: really? You’re serious?**

**Jhonny: yeah, I wouldn’t lie about it**

**10: I know, it’s just, I don’t know. How are you feeling? Are you ok?**

**Jhonny: Well to be honest, I feel bad. For treating him the way I did. I just got really protective over the team and I took it too far.**

**10: I think Yuta felt that way too. He’s not the kind of person to get aggressive :/ its really confusing me.**

**Jhonny: he’s not?**

**10: no, not at all. He’s probably one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Really sensitive too, and hates confrontation. That’s why I’m confused as to what’s going on.**

**Jhonny: man are you trying to make me feel bad and go apologize?**

**10: maybe a little.**

**10: Taeyong told me that you said he was the one to start the fight, but I think that he was only joking about the tournament thing.**

**10: like I said,,,, Yuta doesn’t purposely make jabs like that at people :(**

**10: maybe you just, interpreted what he said the wrong way? :(**

**Jhonny: I don’t know Ten, he really sounded like he was saying it in a rude way….**

**10: Well I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there, but I’ll take your word for it. Just, please think about talking to Yuta … I think he’d really appreciate it.**

Johnny exited out of the conversation with Ten, taking a deep breath.

He opened the volleyball group chat, remembering he should probably let them know the news.

**Johnny: Hey team! I’m here to inform you all that our team will be okay! It has been announced that the soccer team got cut. Relax and have a good night tonight, we have a game tomorrow! :)**

**Kun: Thats great!**

**Jisung: I was really worried the team was going to get cut :( Im so glad we’re staying together !**

**Chenle: Aw Ji, I think we’re all glad we can stay together :(**

Johnny kept reading the influx of supportive and loving texts from his teammates, rejoicing in happiness and relief. But the more he felt their happiness, the more he couldn’t stop thinking about Yuta. How him and his team must feel. They’re losing their passion, the same passion he himself was scared of losing.

He goes back into his conversation with Ten, and types his response.

**Jhonny: I'll think about it**


	4. It Was Like Something Hit Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm really happy I got this one done today, I was almost doubting I wouldn't! I havent really read it over so I don't know if there are any errors or anything, so let me know if there is! Also I hope you all enjoy the story! Leave kudos and comments! They're very appreciated ! :)

Johnny wakes up, feeling like he got the best sleep in his life. He rolls over, and grabs his phone, stretching his arms, and his body while still in bed. He takes a glance at his phone. It’s 1pm. He has to be at the gym for 1:30 for the game.

“Shit!” Johnny swears, throwing his covers off and hopping out of bed, struggling to get his pajamas off.

Taeyong however, was in the middle of playing overwatch, and he slowly turns his head to his room mate, watching him trip over his pajama pants while getting changed and falling onto the floor.

Taeyong bursts into laughter at his clumsy room mate.

“Stop laughing at me!!!” Johnny whines, getting off the floor with his pants at his ankles, just in his underwear and sleep shirt.

He gets his pants off, throwing on sweatpants, and grabbing a black t-shirt, he gets his shirt off, and puts it on. He puts socks and sneakers on, they were anything he could grab, and picked up his game day bag.

Taeyong was just watching Johnny and laughing, while he was getting his last minute things to throw in his bag. He ran towards the door and opens it.

“Good luck today loser!” Taeyong yelled, and Johnny looked back and smiled, still having massive bed head.

“Thanks!”

And with that, Johnny was out the door, jogging the entire way to the locker room. He got in, and everyone was already there, bustling around, doing whatever. Lucas turns around from changing, and sees Johnny.

“Johnny! We thought you were going to sleep through the game.”

Johnny laughs, “I’m not that lazy!”

Lucas walks over to Johnny, wraps his arm around his shoulders, and messes up his hair.

Johnny wiggles his way out of Lucas’s grip and runs to his locker so he can get changed.

Once everyone got changed, they made their way into the gym, getting the volleyballs out in order to help them get their practice in before the game. As they practiced, people started filing in, getting the guys excited to start.

It came time, and the other team entered the gym. It was their rival team from two states over, Ohio State.

It got the team immediately pumped for the game.

It started, and both teams got a decent amount of points. It was at a tie, and it was Johnny’s team’s turn to serve. They served, and made it over the net, the opposing team receiving it and hitting it back. The volley went on for a while, and Johnny began looking at the audience in quick glances.

He saw something that caught his eye.

Bright red hair.

Johnny got distracted and before he knew it, the ball hit him in the head. 

It knocked him off balance, and Johnny fell to the floor. The ref called time, and the entire team ran over to him.

“Johnny what the hell happened?!” Renjun questioned.

“I-I don’t know I got distracted,” he looked down at the floor, and his long legs with knee pads. 

“I- Im sorry guys I won’t do it again.”

The coach walked over to Johnny.

“Go rest on the bench, we’ll put in Sicheng in your place.” 

They lifted Johnny up, helping him stand. Johnny was fine and walked back to the bench, getting an ice pack and sitting on the bench.

Suddenly he remembers.

Yuta.

He looks up at the bleachers trying to find the easy to spot hair color, but it was nowhere to be found.

He was… gone?

Johnny shook his head.

He was just there….

Wasn’t he?

I saw him! Where could he have gone?

Johnny looked down, visibly ashamed of himself.

He looked over at his coach.

“I’m going to go wash my face in the bathroom.”

“Okay try not to take too long.”

“I won’t,”

Johnny got up, and made his way out of the gym. He was walking down the hallway when he saw a glimpse of a dark small figure with glowing red hair.

“Yuta!” Johnny yelled in the hallway, breaking into a sprint, dropping his ice pack.

He ran faster than he ever had his entire life, and when he made it to the end of the hallway to where he went, Yuta was gone, again.

He lifted his hands to his head, rubbing it.

“Am I going crazy or something…” He says to himself.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, jumped and turned around.

“Johnny-“

“Jesus Christ Taeyong you scared me out of my body.”

“Are you really okay? What’s going on?”

Taeyong tried examining his face, but it was clear that Johnny was stressing out. And even though he stressed out very often, it was always hard for Taeyong to try and figure out how to console him.

Taeyong pulled Johnny into a hug.

They didn’t say anything for a while, just stayed where they were, and that was enough for Johnny to calm down.

Taeyong moved his hand up and down his back until Johnny pulled away.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Johnny nodded.

“What’s bothering u big bear?” Taeyong tilted his head, frowning and getting Johnny’s hair out of his face.

“It’s Yuta….”

“What about him?”

“I, I feel really bad for what happened.”

“It’s ok Johnny we all make mistakes sometimes, don’t worry about it.”

“But, I really fucked up.”

“We all do that sometimes too, it’s okay.”

Taeyong made sure he continued reassuring him. But no matter how much support he could get, it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty.

“Here, lets go back in there and watch the rest of the game, and we can go home and rest. Sound good?”

Johnny nodded.

They walked back to the gym, Johnny sitting on the bench and Taeyong back up in the bleachers.

The game ended soon enough, the team winning against their rivals.

The boys go in the locker room, shower and get changed as usual.

“Johnny! Wanna come and get some drinks with us?” Xiaojun asked.

“I’m not really feeling it, you guys have fun.” Johnny smiled at them.

“I’ll sit out on this one too,” Johnny hears Lucas say.

The group leaves, Johnny and Lucas went into the gym, and the only people let there was them, and Taeyong.

Taeyong gives Johnny a hug and goes to get a start back to their room since he was tired.

“Ill walk you home,” Lucas offers.

“Okay,” Johnny says, thankful.

It was a silent walk home for the first part, but once they got halfway there, Lucas started to break the ice a bit.

“I have a question for you.” Lucas says out of the blue.

Johnny looks at him.

“What is it?”

Lucas looks down at his hands. “Well, I like someone.”

He smiles, and looks over at Lucas. “Oh my god, who?”

Lucas looks at Johnny. “You know, uh,” he scratches his head, “Yuqi from the soccer team?”

Johnny’s mouth went in an O.

“Oh my god the small adorable girl on the team?!” Johnny says, getting excited for his friend.

“Yes, she’s actually the only girl even though they’re co-ed. But yeah I like her a lot and I was wondering if you think I have a chance with her?”

“Well I don’t know her nor have I seen you guys together, but you guys would be cute together. I can totally see it.”

“Really?”

“Of course!” After saying this, Johnny swear he heard a little giggle come from the boy.

They make it back to Johnny’s dorm, Lucas wearing the largest smile he’s seen in a long time.

“Night Lucas,” Johnny said, laughing at the tall boys’ goofy grin.

“Night Johnny!” He waved.

Johnny went back to his room and got changed, and almost threw himself into bed.

“What a day.” He said out loud.

Then he heard from across the room,

“You could say that again.”


	5. Parties, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm back and I did not forget about this story. I have not been in the best place and I have been trying to write, I really have. I'll make it up to you guys soon, I promise. Enjoy the chapter! :)

Wednesday for Johnny passes in a blur. 

Class at 8am, another at 10, and practice at 1.

After all was done with for the day, Johnny made it back to his dorm, exhausted as hell.

He throws himself on his bed, knowing that he hasn’t had time to think about anything personal all day since he didn’t have any time to himself.

Even now he still didn’t with Taeyong in the room, but with it now being second semester he was used to another persons presence.

But the more he tries to relax, the more Yuta comes to his mind again.

He wonders how he has been doing.

Is he okay?

Is the team okay?

Before he knows it, it’s 5pm. He hears his stomach growl loudly. 

Taeyong looks over, a bit concerned.

“You hungry?”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go to the dining hall.”

They walk together to the dining hall to get some dinner. Johnny gets some grilled cheese, and Taeyong a salad.

They sat down, eating their food.

“Have you thought about talking to Yuta?”

Johnny didn’t answer for a few seconds.

“Yeah. A lot.”

“Would you… wanna talk to him?”

Johnny looked up at Taeyong.

“Id like to, yeah.”

“I can give you his number, or tell you where he has class tomorrow so maybe you could meet him outside?”

“Thank you Taeyong, really, but I wanna find him on my own. Whenever he’s ready to talk.”

“Okay, okay. But if you ever need to know anything let me know.” His smile felt warm and genuine, and helped Johnny to relax a little.

They then talked about their days, Taeyong mainly talking about his overwatch tournaments.

They make their way back to the dorm so that Johnny could sleep. Taeyong noticed Johnny was visibly tired, so he tried not to make too much conversation.

Johnny wakes up on Thursday sore, and with a headache.

He looks on his desk next to his bed, and a cup of water, some pain medicine and a … note?

He observes the note.

**I know you’re too proud to admit it, but here’s his number.**

Johnny stares at the post it, looking at the number.

He has it now.

He has the chance to make it up to him.

To make sure he’s really okay.

But his nerves get the best of him, and he puts the note back down on the dresser.

Taeyong was at his 8am, and that gave Johnny the biggest excuse in the world to just stay in bed all day since he didn’t have classes until 5pm.

He stayed in bed watching Trinkets on Netflix, trying his best to ignore the nervousness and anxiety bubbling up inside. Just having Yuta’s number was getting his worked up, making his heart rate spike.

He really didn’t know why this made him so nervous, but he just kind of went with it.

By the time he knew it, it was 4pm, and he had to finish up the rest of the homework he had for his class in an hour.

He eventually dragged himself to class, sitting through 90 minutes of torture, and then another 90 for his next class, but it was finally over.

He got out of class at around 9:30, and decided to walk around campus a little bit.

Something that always intrigued him was how bright the stars seemed to be on campus, and how the stars always made him think.

Night walks always had him in his head, and tonight was no different.

The longer he walked the more he thought about the red haired, smaller boy, with a force to be reckoned with.

It sounds cliche, he knows but can’t help thinking about things. How he should talk to Yuta, explain himself.

He pulls out his phone and pulls out iMessage. 

Somehow it’s already 11PM and he’s in a new message with Yuta’s number typed, a message ready to send, yet he … doesn’t send it.

**Hey Yuta, how are you? This is Johnny.**

He deletes it.

**Yuta, can we talk? It’s Johnny btw.**

Deleted again.

He types multiple messages out, all getting to the same point.

**Hey this is Johnny, wanna meet up sometime and talk about things?**

Deleted.

**Johnny: Hey Yuta, this is Johnny, I wanted to apologize to you, but I wasn’t sure if it was a bad time. Text me back if you’d like to talk !**

_**Sent 11:46PM** _

Johnny let out a deep breath he didn’t know he was holding.

It then set in what he had done.

He started pacing, slightly, ok maybe majorly regretting his decision.

But his phone goes off.

**Yuta: Heyyyyyyy, Id love to talk! Jsut ummmm whatdya wanta talk abuottttttttt?**

Johnny sits and stares at his phone.

He feels like he is insane, or in a dream, or both.

What is going on.

**Johnny: Are you okay?**

**Yuta: Immmm great! Peachy!**

**Johnny: Are you drunk?**

**Yuta: Doesss 6 shots count as drunk?**

**Yuta: Because if soooo then yes, I am**

**Johnny: Do you need someone to take you home?**

**Yuta: Nahhhhhhh I got my best bud Ten over here!!!!!!! He got me**

**Yuta: And my other friend otoo,,,, Taeyong**

**Johnny: Who’s sober?**

**Yuta: Uuhhhhhhhhhhh Taeyong????**

Sounds about right, Johnny thinks. Taeyong has never been a big drinker, unlike Ten.

But now it makes sense why Taeyong and Ten would ask him to make up and be nice to Yuta, they’re Yuta’s friends.

It explains a lot of things, but, not everything.

**Johnny: Ok, when do you think you’re going to go home? You should get some rest**

**Yuta: I am perttty tired soooooo Ill have Taeyong bring me homes,**

**Johnny: Okay, text me when you get there so I know you’re okay.**

Johnny starts walking back to his dorm to go prepare himself for when Yuta got home.

He gets there, and 20 minutes later he gets a text.

**Yuta: m backkkk**

**Johnny: You’re home safe?**

**Yuta: Yup and I’m on the floor hahaahhahhahha**

**Johnny: Yuta, can u get yourself into bed?**

**Yuta: I don’t wanna moooooovveeeee**

**Johnny: Please?????**

A minute goes by, and then he receives another text.

**Yuta: Ok. Am in bed.**

**Johnny: That’s good, can you try and sleep?**

**Yuta: mmmmmmmm yeah**

**Johnny: Goodnight, Yuta**

**Yuta: Night Johnnyyy!!!!**

Johnny gets into his own bed, and puts his phone on charge, leaving it on his desk.

He stays up thinking about the conversation.

Yuta was really fucked up tonight, and Johnny wonders if there was a motive.

And as if he called upon him, Taeyong walked through the door to interrupt his thinking.

He observes his roommate getting ready for bed and eventually getting in, turning all the lights off, and both boys drift away, as if they hadn’t been so relaxed their entire lives.

Maybe it was something about that night that calmed them down quick, or some good fortune.

But either way, both boys drifted off, feeling happier, and more free than they had before.


	6. The Text

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm finally back again! I'm trying to update as often as possible, and not make it terrible, but my brain has been giving me some blocks lately with figuring out the storyline and how I wanna carry it out. But thankfully I have my awesome best friend Erika who has been helping me a lot so far!! I love her!! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and hopefully I'll be back soon with chapter 7!! Just a little note,,,, if a name is in bold and has a line over it, it means a POV change!!!! So have fun reading!! :)))) Don't forget to leave comments and kudos! I love you!

Johnny wakes up at around 11am, happy that he doesn’t have classes today.

He looks over and notices Taeyong is asleep.

He lays staring at the ceiling until something hit him almost like a truck.

It wasn’t a truck though, it was Ten, bursting through their dorm door.

“Oh my god!!!” Ten practically screams

Taeyong jumps awake, falling off his bed onto the tile floors, and groaning.

Ten watches as Taeyong falls on the floor, and laughs.

“You’re such a scaredy cat omg.” But when he stops laughing, he walks over to Taeyong and goes to help him up, all the while Johnny is trying to process what was going on.

“Ten… What are you doing here being so loud when we’re sleeping?”

“Because you!!! Mr Suh!!!! texted Yuta last night!!!!”

Taeyong stopped fake pretending to be hurt in order for Ten to help him, and sits straight up to look at Johnny.

“Oh my god you actually texted him?!?!”

“….Yeah last night I did. I had no idea you three went out drinking together but I wanted to talk to him.”

Ten jumps onto Johnny’s bed, landing almost on top of him.

Johnny groans.

“Ten what are you doinggggg,”

“I wanna know how it went!!”

“How did you even know I texted him?”

“Well, his phone was on when he fell asleep and when I went to turn it off I saw your name and got curious!! I only saw the goodnight texts so don’t worry, but I want all the details.”

“Well I asked if he wanted to talk and let me apologize but it was obvious he was drunk so I convinced him to go home and get some rest.”

“That’s it?” Ten asked.

“Uh yeah, that’s it, he hasn’t said anything to me yet today I don’t think.”

“Of course not, he’s still out like a light at the room.”

“Oh. You guys are roommates?” Johnny asks.

“Yes you dummy, I’ve told you about him before!” Ten says, playfully slapping Johnnys leg through the blanket, and going over to Taeyong and sitting with him on the floor.

“Oh.. I must’ve forgot.” Johnny says, trying to think of the time that Ten ever mentioned his roommate, but realizes that he doesn’t think Ten ever has.

Taeyong starts getting tired again, and leans on Ten’s shoulder.

“You two wanna… go in bed and be alone??” Johnny asks.

Ten runs his fingers through Taeyong’s hair, as he falls asleep on his shoulder. He looks up at Johnny.

“Uh…. If you don’t mind??” Ten gives a small smile.

“Of course, just let me get changed quick and I’ll be out of here.”

Johnny got dressed super fast and threw some homework he had into his backpack, and grabbed both his phone and the bag, and was out the door. He kind of didn’t wanna know what they were going to do.

Ten and Taeyong aren’t dating, per say, they’re friends with benefits. But both of them have feelings for each other, and neither of them are aware of the other’s feelings.

He tries not to think much about it.

Johnny makes it to the library, and finds a little spot to sit and do his work.

____________________________

**Taeyong**

He comes to after putting his head on Ten’s shoulder, feeling him get up, and him lifting Taeyong and putting him in bed. He gets in with Taeyong, and they snuggle in together, when Ten’s phone starts to ring. 

Taeyong opens his eyes, and looks over at Ten.

“Sorry, I’ll get that, go back to sleep.”

He watches Ten reach for his phone, and answer the call.

Yuta pops up on the screen.

“Ten. Ten. Oh my god. Oh my GOD.”

“What’s going on Yuta? Are you okay?” Ten asks, worried.

At this point Taeyong is concerned, and lays on Ten, watching Yuta.

“Oh my god it’s Johnny. He- he texted me last night. I was drunk. Oh my god I drunk texted him.” Yuta was pacing around the dorm room, freaking out.

“Ok, ok, Yuta, breathe, calm down, it’s okay.”

“No no no no no no it’s not ok it's not ok I drunk texted Johnny and he HELPED ME TO SLEEP oh my god.”

Taeyong then chimed up. “Hey Yuta, look at us for a moment. It’s okay. We just talked to Johnny and he didn’t seem any bit annoyed with you. He was completely fine, he probably didn’t think much of it, he’s not the guy to dwell on that kind of stuff.”

“Really?”

“Yes Yuta, you can take a deep breath.”

Yuta finally stopped hyperventilating and takes a deep breath as he was told.

“He.. was fine?????”

“Yes.” Taeyong and Ten said together.

“Ok that makes me feel better.”

“You should talk to him Yuta, so he’s not forever under the impression that your personality is the same as your drunk personality.” Ten said laughing, followed by a nod from Taeyong.

“Ok, ok, I will, Ill do it.”

_________________________________

**Johnny**

Johnny was in the library for a little while before he notices Lucas sitting at a table by himself. Johnny picks his stuff up and moves over to sit next to him.

“Hey Lucas,” Johnny says, touching his shoulder to get his attention.

“Hey Johnny!!!” Lucas says with the biggest smile on his face.

“I have something super important to ask you!” Lucas kind of blurts out.

Johnny laughs at the adorable boy.

“What’s your super important question?” Johnny says, taking his homework back out so he could continue working on it.

“Um……. I need help asking Yuqi out, and uh, I don’t know how….”

Johnny coos.

“Awwwww Lucas!!!!! You’re so cute!!! You should get her some flowers, and her favorite drink and ask her to go to dinner with you. I’m sure it’ll work if you’re confident!”

“Really? You think so?” Lucas said with twinkling stars in his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll work out,” Johnny says, smiling at him.

“Thanks Johnny, for always being here.”

“You’re welcome Xuxi, anytime.”

They both go back to doing homework, and as Johnny was finishing up his calculus II packet he hears his phone vibrate in his pocket.

He puts his pencil down, and pulls his phone out, seeing a message pop up.

**Yuta: We should talk.**

He stares at the text for minutes,

But there’s only thing his brain can come up with.

……..fuck


	7. Comfortable Silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Hi. It's been a while. I hit a big writers block, and lost all my writing motivation, again. At this point we are finally getting into the good parts! And on top of this I have some bigger news :) after this story, Ill be writing another one! I won't expose it right now, but all Ill say is that its about the Dreamies. I got the idea from a person on twitter, who gladly let me use their idea to write an amazing story. But enough about that, Im sorry again it took a long time to get this up. I'm trying my hardest to get through this story! Hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know your thoughts in the comments! (PS: There might be some spelling and grammar errors I didnt check it over.)

**Johnny: When do you wanna talk?**

**Yuta: Maybe at your place in an hour?**

**Johnny: I.. uh can’t go back to my place**

**Yuta: Im guessing that’s where Ten and Taeyong are?**

**Johnny: Yeah**

**Yuta: Where are you right now?**

**Johnny: I’m at the library with a friend**

**Yuta: Okay I’ll meet you there I just got out of class.**

“Hey, Lucas, I gotta meet somebody up right now, and I gotta go, are you okay here?” Johnny asks.

“Yeah, actually Im about to meet up Yuqi right now, she’s going to be on her way over here from class soon, and I’m gonna ask her to have lunch with me in a little while so that way I can get her flowers and stuff and ask her out!”

“Aw Im so happy for you, all the luck man, Im sure it’ll go awesome!”

“All thanks to you Johnny!” Lucas says, with the biggest smile, just a little bit too loud, earning a shh-ing from the librarian.

Johnny packed up his things.

He went through the glass doors, and walked to the grass area in the front and sat under a tree. He was there for maybe 15-20 minutes, and began to wonder where Yuta was.

He took out his phone, and looked at his texts.

**Yuta: Hey sorry Im taking a while one of my friends wanted to talk and it took longer than I expected, Ill be there in a few.**

That was a couple minutes ago, so Johnny stopped worrying, and just laid his head back on the tree, putting his phone down on his lap with his bag.

He heard someone approaching and lifted his head.

He saw Yuta, with his ever bright red hair, looking down at him.

He was only wearing gray sweats, a black t-shirt, and had barely styled his hair that morning, so he couldn’t tell what Yuta seemed fixated on.

“Yuta?” Johnny asked, taking the boy out of his trance.

Yuta rubbed the back of his neck, just catching that he was staring at Johnny.

“Oh, sorry Im just exhausted,” He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

“So we’re going to your place right?”

“Yeah. You know where my room is right, since you know Ten.”

Johnny nodded with a smile.

The walk to his room was quiet, but when they reached a small cafe, Johnny caught sight of someone familiar sitting in the window.

He stopped dead in his tracks, and looked closer.

It was Lucas and Yuqi, sitting at a table together, with small cups of coffee.

Johnny immediately smiled.

“Oh my god.” He said, stopping Yuta from walking.

“What’s wrong Johnny?”

“Nothing, its just my friend in there is on his first date with the girl he has a crush on.”

Johnny looks down and notices the small arrangement of flowers on her lap.

“Aw he actually got her the flowers.” Johnny said playfully smiling.

Lucas then noticed him, and started laughing, catching Yuqi’s attention as well.

Johnny just jumped up and down while giving him a thumbs up, mouthing the words “good luck, making him blush and look down, while Yuqi was laughing at Johnny and the fact that Lucas was blushing.

Johnny turned around, and caught up to Yuta, and continued their walk.

It wasn’t far from where they were, and no conversation was being made. It was a comfortable silence.

But Johnny had a question burning in his mind since the day they met.

“How have you been doing? Like, after everything that’s happened.”

Yuta continued looking at the ground, thinking about what to say.

“Im not going to lie, it hurts a lot. You know, losing the one thing that’s kept you sane for as long as you could remember.” Yuta glances at Johnny, and makes eye contact, and continues to stare at the ground as they walked.

“The soccer team is more to me than just a sport. It’s my life. It’s my path through college, and to becoming a professional soccer player. If I can’t get a scholarship, I don’t stay in college.”

Yuta says, leaving a silence in between them that wasn’t unfamiliar.

“The people on that team mean the world to me. This might just be college soccer to everyone else, but not for me. Not for them.”

He sighs.

“Im sorry for running out on you the other day when you saw me in the locker room.” Yuta continued.

“Hey no, it’s okay!” Johnny says, smiling and looking over at Yuta, whose eyes were still glued to the ground in front of them.

They were at Yuta’s place, and Yuta unlocked the door for them. The dorm room wasn’t anything new to Johnny as he had been there many many times with Ten.

Yuta sat on his bed, and looked up at Johnny. 

“You can sit on my bed.”

Johnny got onto the bed as well, both of them sitting with crossed legs, facing one another.

“How’s volleyball going?” Yuta says in a small voice.

“It’s the same as always you know?” Johnny didn’t know what to say really, knowing that by answering this question, it helps Yuta to distract himself and hide his emotions, or, make them worse.

“I worried about you a lot, seeing you so upset all the time.” Johnny said, fiddling his fingers, and looking up at the boy in front of him.

“You were?”

“Yeah. Even though we weren’t on good terms, due to my mistake, I still cared about you. I mean I’m a human being after all.”

Yuta smiles.

“And I want to try and help you get the soccer team back.”

Yuta’s head snaps up to make eye contact with Johnny.

“You…. Theres no way, there’s not enough funds to keep the team running.”

“I’m going to figure out a way. You didn’t deserve to lose something so important in your life, and neither do your teammates. How about we, hm,” Johnny paused for a second, and then as if a lightbulb went off in his head, he knew exactly what they could do.

“Lets do fundraisers!’

Yutas face immediately lit up.

“Fundraisers?” Yuta questioned, “… Thats.. an amazing idea. Oh my god Johnny do you think this will work?”

“Well we’ll have to figure things out, like the details, and get the school board to approve, but I think we have a good chance.”

Yuta leaped forward, wrapping his arms around Johnny’s neck, and burying his head in Johnny’s shoulder. Yuta held Johnny close, almost knocking Johnny over. But Johnny wrapped his arms around Yuta as well.

“Let’s save your team.” Johnny says, squeezing Yuta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please leave comments and kudos because they keep me motivated, AND they make my day.


	8. Things Might Be Okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone so i know it's been months since i updated and i feel really bad but i've gotten myself into a better place and found my passion for writing once again. not only that but im beginning to have just a little bit of more free time so i hope that i will be able to write more frequently for this fic :) it's a bit short but i'll be writing more soon !! i did half of it on my computer and half on my phone so sorry if capitalization is different throughout. but yeah :) enjoy and please leave comments and kudos :) they help me get more motivation to write !!! plus they're really nice to see after a long day :)

“What kind of fundraisers should we do? I can’t exactly think of any on the spot.” Yuta questions.

“Well, I was thinking we could do a bake sale? It’s a pretty good way to get the money. Plus we can invite both of our teams to help us out.”

“Oh my god yes. A bake sale sounds so nice!”

“I’m trying to think of where we can bake. Because we all know these dorm kitchens are 100% not big enough for 2 sports teams and whoever else would want to volunteer.”

They both were thinking for a moment.

“What if we asked a bakery to help us out a bit? Maybe on the day they’re closed use the kitchen or something?” Yuta brings up.

“Thats a great idea! We can figure out who will bake what when we get the total list of people that can help.”

Bake Sale :) !!

**Johnny: Hey everyone! I’m Johnny, the captain of the Volleyball team. I have good news for the soccer team. Yuta and I have decided that we are going to convince the school board to allow both teams to participate in a fundraiser event. It’ll be over the span of the next week, before the team was planned to be terminated. We're hoping the funds can help for at least a year for you guys.**

**hyuck: NO WAY**

**jaemin: AAAADFHKHJDJJFF**

**yangyang: WE GETTIN OUR TEAM BACK BOYS**

The frantic texting in the groupchat was non stop. mostly from the soccer team, but also for the volleyball team. Everyone was just happy to be able to help.

**Johnny: by the way, we are in the middle of planning a bake sale. if anyone else has any ideas, just text them here and we can do them. we want one for maybe every day this week to optimize how much money we can get :)**

**chenle: okay here me out**

**jisung: here he goes**

**chenle: Car Wash**

**doyoung: omg yes**

**yuqi: what if we did a kissing booth?**

**renjun: DAMN YUQI OUT HERE HAVING THE GOOD IDEAS YALL CANT RELATE ******

****

******chenle: y'all hear sumn** ** **

****

******johnny: those are all super good ideas, we got 3/7 so far, anyone have other ideas?** ** **

****

******yuta: we can go around selling little snacks and midterm survival kits to people on campus !!!** ** **

****

******johnny: that's such a good idea !!!!** ** **

****

******ten: y'all seein what i'm seein** ** **

****

******sicheng: 👀👀** ** **

****

******yuta: see what** ** **

****

******chenle: 👀👀👀👀** ** **

****

******jisung: 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀** ** **

****

******johnny: why y'all usin those emojis** ** **

****

****

johnny looks up from his phone to look at yuta. 

"Do you know what they're talking about??" 

"No clue." he says laughing. 

They both make eye contact, looking one another in the eyes. it takes a few seconds for either one of them to say anything. 

When yuta gathers the courage to speak, he opens his mouth. but instead of speaking words, he heard the sound of the door being brutally opened by no other than ten. 

"YUTA!!" ten begins yelling, until he walks in and stops dead in his tracks when he sees what he walked into. 

"johnny when did you get here???? i thought you guys...." ten trailed off. 

"i.. i um... was heading out! i have uh homework to do, yeah." Johnny snaps out of his daze of staring at the boys pretty red hair, and deep brown eyes, and grabs his bag and makes his way out. 

"bye!!" johnny says, closing the door on this way out. 

The only question in his mind that seems to be only question he ever has: 

_What the fuck just happened?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you have any compliments, criticism, literally any thought you would wanna share with me, go ahead in the comments! i love seeing what you guys have to say :)))


	9. quick update

Hello! so i know it's been a long time since i posted, it's mainly because i've lost all motivation for writing. now that i've got it back i don't exactly have the motivation to write any romance. i'm going to put this story on hold for a while because of this, and also that there isn't a lot of support for this story. i'll eventually come back to this, maybe. but yeah :( sorry for anyone who really looked forward to updates! i might make more stories in the meantime so look forward to it!

**Author's Note:**

> Make sure to give kudos, comment and leave your thoughts! Everything keeps me wanting to continue writing! I love you all! I hope you enjoyed! :)


End file.
